The present invention relates generally to a control device for an appliance. More particularly, the present invention relates to a control device for a household appliance and a household appliance incorporating such a control device.
A household appliance normally has various controls so that an operator can selectively control the operation of the appliance. Some types of household appliances, such as washers or dryers, typically do not have any integral lighting devices for illuminating the controls. Moreover, these types of household appliances are often located in low-light areas such as utility rooms, basements, and/or under objects such as cabinets. Low-light conditions can make it difficult to read the controls and/or to set the controls properly. If a household appliance is not set properly due to low-light conditions, it may not perform as expected by the operator or it may run longer than necessary and therefore waste energy.
Some types of household appliances often have integral lighting devices for illuminating at least some of the controls. Ranges are a good example. A typical, mainstream range often has burner controls on a front panel of the range and oven controls on a back panel of the range. Since the range is often placed in a kitchen and under a top object such as a vent hood or a cabinet that often blocks some of light from the kitchen light, the back panel typically has a single integral lighting device for illuminating all of the oven controls. However, in today's high-end ranges, the trend is to eliminate the back panel and to place all of the controls on the front panel of the ranges without employing any integral lighting device for illuminating the controls. Needless to say, low-light conditions, such as when the kitchen light is turned off, can make it difficult to read the controls and/or to properly set the controls of such ranges.
It is therefore desirable to incorporate lighting devices into household appliances for the purposes of illuminating the controls of the appliances. In the past, various attempts have been made to provide a control device for an appliance, which has integral lighting devices for illuminating the respective controls. Although these control devices may operate with some degrees of success, they often have various disadvantages. For example, the integral lighting devices often have a complicated structure and/or components. In addition, when each control has its own, exclusive lighting device, typically light is not used to illuminate the control directly. Furthermore, once each lighting device is installed in the appliance, it is often difficult to reach, repair or replace it.